XXI.7. Where Did Christ Go When He Died?

Question: Where did Christ go the three days He was dead?

Answer: Upon death, the Lord Jesus separated from His body and was in Paradise for 3 days and 3 nights. Read Luke 16:19-31 and, if you look it up, you will find that the Greek word for hell is "Hades." This is where the saved and the lost both went before Christ ascended back to Heaven in Acts 1:11.

Hades was composed of Paradise ("Abraham’s Bosom") for the saved, and Torment for the lost. A gigantic gulf separated the two places, so that one could not pass over to the other side. This was located in the center of the Earth as Matthew 12:40 states,

"For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth."

Luke 23:43 lets us know that this is where Christ went upon death.

"And the thief said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom."

The Lord answered him by saying,

"...Today shalt thou be with me in Paradise."

After the Lord’s Resurrection, He remained on Earth forty days, showing Himself in His resurrected body. When He ascended back to Heaven (Acts 1:11), He emptied Paradise, taking all the saved back with Him to Glory. Ephesians 4:8,9 gives the record,

"Now that he (Christ) ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth...Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he (Christ) lead captivity captive (those in Paradise to Heaven), and gave gifts unto men."

In 2 Corinthians 12:2-4 we are told that Paradise is now in Heaven.

"And I knew such a man,...(whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;)...such an one caught up to the third heaven. (2)...How that he was caught up into paradise(4a)."

When a Christian dies today, they go immediately to Paradise to be with the Lord in Heaven.

"We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord." (2 Corinthians 5:8).

At death, the Christian only changes his location. Therefore, leaving his body behind, he (his soul and spirit—the real "you") enters the glories of Heaven!

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